Tonle Sap Lake and Floating Village Chong Kneas

Now that I have been living here for a little over a month, I am beginning to feel settled into my home and and can start to really explore the country of Cambodia, especially the area around Siem Reap.  One of the first "tourist-y" things that I wanted to do was visit Tonle Sap Lake and the floating villages.  Using a company that specializes in guided tours of the lake, I booked a tour at sunset with my husband and three friends.  Our guide and driver picked us up at our apartment and within a half an hour, we were standing on the bank of the Tonle Sap Lake.

Nerd Moment (Sorry, I'm a teacher, I can't help but provide some background knowledge on this place.): 
Tonle Sap is the largest freshwater lake in all of Southeast Asia and just 13 km (a little over 8 miles) from Siem Reap.  For about half the year, the lake sits at about 2700 square km (surface area).  However, as the rains fall throughout monsoon season, the lake swells to 16,000 square km.  Since the monsoon season affects all of Cambodia, the Mekong River, which is connected to Tonle Sap, also receives considerable amounts of rain.  During this time, the river pushes its way into the Tonle Sap Lake, causing the waters to flow backwards thus contributing to the swelling lake.  The Tonle Sap Lake is also home to several floating villages.  On the day of our visit, we went to the Chong Kneas floating village.  The floating villages are literally homes... on boats... in the water.  The residents of these floating villages are some of Cambodia's poorest citizens.  In addition, a large population of Vietnamese refugees can be found here among the villages.  During the dry season, several of these homes are on dry land or rest on the banks of the lake.  However, as the waters rise, more and more homes become afloat and the villages grow in size.  During our tour, our guide pointed out that many of the boats are tied down to trees but can easily be moved.  Because the water level drastically fluctuates, many residents move their floating homes more than ten times throughout the year.   I found it interesting that these villages were quite functional, especially since they are completely on water.  In Chong Kneas, there are several schools, a basketball court, a pool hall (with children sitting on one of the two pool tables), a crocodile farm, and a church...all floating on boats among the houseboats.  Several of the houseboats had shops in the front section selling a wide variety of products and services.  There was even one boat that was playing dance music and appeared to be a night club of some sort.  Our guide informed us that residents use car batteries to give them the electricity they need and even pointed out satellite dishes that were affixed to the top of some of the houseboats.  Even with electricity for lights and television, life it not easy here.      

(*facts on Tonle Sap Lake retrieved from http://tonlesap.net/)

Here are some pictures and a few videos from my visit.

several of the boats at the docks, awaiting customers

a teenage boy helping push the boats away from the dock

A closer look at a couple of the boats at the dock.  You might notice the orange life jacket in the brown boat on the right and the lack of life jackets in the blue boat on the left.  We were in one similar to the blue boat....without the life jackets.  Very grateful that a situation did not arise in which we needed to use the jackets.

Pulling away from the dock.  

The engine for these boats sticks out the back end as you can see on these three boats.

a closer look at the engine

There is a wide variety of boats on the Tonle Sap and I was surprised at some of the creative ways the boats were used within floating village.  This one is hauling lumber.

one boat towing another boat

a man fishing off the side of his boat

Floating produce market - these boats paddle over to the houses and restaurants in the floating village or even other boats and sell their fruits and vegetables. 

another floating produce market

fishing

I was surprised to see such a young child sitting inside this boat while the only adult on board paddled the boat, facing the opposite direction.

different boats

This is a home with a store on the front of it.

It also has a fish farm underneath, very common in the floating villages.

.

This man is selecting ears of corn from one of the floating produce markets

relaxing in hammocks

I love the bright yellow flowery plants on the front of this house.

floating village

By the end of August, you will not be able to see any of these tree, only the houses floating in the water.

A view down one of the water canals leading to the Tonle Sap Lake.

Notice the satellite dish on this house...try not to notice the chubby Cambodian hanging off the house.

Another store with a customer just getting ready to dock and shop.

 A newer house.  Most of the houses in the village look like this one with the bright blue and sunburst design.

Coming soon to the floating village...a hospital.  These three boats are in the process of being built into a hospital/clinic for the residents of the floating village.  I'm not quite sure how it is funded, but I appreciate that the health of these individuals is being taken into consideration.

a water pumping and filtering station

a basketball court

Hoops anyone?

a  floating school with the "school bus" departing

A couple of students playing around on the deck outside the school.  The boy on the right is trying to flip, throw, push the little guy in the green shirt over the edge.  I think they were "hammin' it up" for the cameras. 

This boat contains only children, several with backpacks, heading home after school.  At a very young age, these children learn how to navigate boats and live in this community that floats on water.

One of the tourist attractions in the Tonle Sap Lake is the crocodile farms.  Since this stop along the river draws so many tourists, there are several children from the floating village who panhandle with hopes of taking home some money to help support their family.  Some of these children are the sole bread winner for their family and spend day after day begging for money instead of attending school.  Really unfortunate.  

children panhandling to a boat full of tourist who just arrived at the crocodile farm 

This little girl was offering to let me hold her snake or take a picture of her...for $1.  She was furious with all the tourists who would take her picture but not give her any money.

Another young girl walking around the dock, greeting tourist with her pet python snake. 

My husband petting the snake...I kept my distance, behind the camera lens.

Oh yea, there were crocodiles here, too.  Sadly, the crocodile farm was just a pit at one end of a large boat. For $10, you can feed them a huge, live catfish and watch them go crazy over it...really sad!  I felt bad for the catfish and the crocs.

A view of the boats coming and going from the dock of the crocodile farm.  The little girl in the metal tub along with the two boys on the flat boat next to her would weave in between the boats with hopes of getting the attention of the tourist on the next incoming boat.

the little boy on the flat boat with his pet python snake...
...his sad face and pleas for money just broke my heart

Even when we were on the water, there were other boats that would ride along side ours and offer a variety of entertainment options, goods and services.  This family sped from boat to boat, offering to hold the snake or purchase cold beverages (like cans of soda or beer).

One boat that came along side ours was this one below.  You can just see the top of the boy's red basket with cold beverages of soda, beer and bottled water sitting on his lap.

 As soon as his boat was right next to ours, he hopped in...with his basket of cold beverages.  (I would have fallen right in the water, but he seems to have done this quite a few times.)

Our party purchased two beers and a soda.  As soon as we made our selection and paid him, he was off our boat....

. ..and back on his boat.

Our group took a sunset tour of Tonle Sap Lake that included an "all you can eat and drink dinner aboard the largest boat on the Tonle Sap Lake".  This is our boat..............

...approaching the boat and getting ready to board....it looks deserted...

 ...the "dining room"...

 ..."majestic views"...

...sigh...

... the boat looks kinda like it's abandon and would make a great setting for a horror movie...not like the pictures we saw online.  However, it actually turned out to be a really nice time.  We were the only ones on the boat and had a private dinner with a staff of three catering to our party of five.  There were five hammocks on the boat, which was perfect for our group.  We relaxed in the hammocks and drank beers and soda while watching boats zip across the lake.  Our guide informed us that because our visit was during low season and before the heaviest rains, the lake is much lower and their large boat cannot move through the water.  After the rains, the lake will be three times its current size and all the tree tops that we see around the boat will be several meters underwater.  During the high season, after the monsoons, this boat can travel across the lake and up the Mekong River to the capital city, Phnom Penh.

This is our guide (on the right) and one of the two boatmen that took us around the lake.  Our guide was quite intelligent and shared a lot of the history of Cambodia and the Tonle Sap Lake.  He spoke English very well and had a bit of an Australian accent (which made sense once we learned that the Aussies taught him English).

my friends just chillin' in hammocks

My husband relaxing and taking in the view of the lake.  

Notice all the green trees around the lake?  These will all be underwater in less than a month!

Putting my own feet up and relaxin' for a while.  (Really glad I painted my toenails...LOL.) 

our group enjoying our dinner

my dinner - chicken cashew, rice and a local beer

On our way back to the docks, they let a couple of us drive the boat.  The steering wheel on this boat is from a car and the gas pedal is a rope that you step on.  The harder you push down on the rope, the faster the boat goes.    Notice how calm everyone is with me at the wheel?...

Kelli, the other girl in our group, also drove the boat.  Notice how "serious" Kelli is and the panic looks on everyone else's faces?  I later found out that the guys did this on purpose...LOL.   

Our happy little crew!

Here are a few videos that I took during our visit:

A short video of a village along the road on the way to the lake.  You can hear us talking in the background.  We are in the middle of a discussion about some of the dangers in Cambodia, included landmines.  

On the opposite side of the road is a large section of open land.  During the low season, rice is planted and harvested from these fields.  However, when the lake is at it's highest levels, all of this will be flooded.  Even the road is covered by water.

a group of children playing jump rope along the bank of the lake

kids swinging in hammocks, kids swimming from boat to boat

my attempt at driving the boat

My husband is also keeping a blog and can provide a different take on our trip to Tonle Sap and the floating villages.  To read more, visit http://myholidayincambodia.blogspot.com/